Google’s redesigned search experience is experiencing novel problems: users discovered that searching for the word “disregard” and similar terms can return a nearly empty AI-generated response. Russell Brandom reports for TechCrunch that the new interface buries traditional search results far below the fold, replacing them with AI summaries that, in this case, provide no useful …
AI chatbots from some of the world’s biggest tech companies can be manipulated into spreading misinformation through a simple technique. Thomas Germain reports for the BBC that a single, well-crafted blog post published almost anywhere online can be enough to influence what tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Google’s AI Overviews tell the public. Germain …
A new study from Microsoft Research reveals that large language models (LLMs) silently corrupt documents during extended, multi-step workflows, often in ways that are nearly impossible for humans to detect. Ben Dickson reports for VentureBeat that even the best-performing AI models degrade an average of 25% of document content across these workflows. The research team …
Google’s AI Overviews are accurate about 91 percent of the time. This sounds good at first, but Tripp Mickle and colleagues report for The New York Times that this still means the search engine delivers tens of millions of incorrect answers every hour. The New York Times commissioned AI startup Oumi to test Google’s system …
A deceptively simple question has exposed a widespread reasoning failure across the artificial intelligence industry. Felix Wunderlich writes for opper.ai that 42 out of 53 leading AI models answered incorrectly when asked: “I want to wash my car. The car wash is 50 meters away. Should I walk or drive?” The correct answer is, of …
A bug in Google Gemini is causing chat histories to disappear from the sidebar for a large number of users. Entire conversation lists are going blank, with some users losing up to a year of stored chats. Reports have surfaced on Reddit, Google’s own support forums, and other platforms, affecting both free and paid subscribers …
College students across the United States are using AI “humanizer” tools to avoid false accusations of cheating, even when they never used artificial intelligence to write their assignments. Tyler Kingkade reports for NBC News. The emergence of AI detectors on campuses has created an escalating conflict. Professors run student papers through programs like Turnitin and …
Anthropic’s Claude AI model recently took over the management of a vending machine in the Wall Street Journal newsroom. The experiment aimed to test the autonomy and business logic of AI agents in a real-world setting. Joanna Stern reports for the Wall Street Journal that the project quickly devolved into financial chaos and social engineering. …
Large language models (LLMs) are powerful tools that generate text based on statistical probabilities, not an understanding of truth. This makes them essentially “bullshitters” that are indifferent to facts, a core design feature that users must understand to use them safely and effectively. Matt Ranger, the head of machine learning at the search company Kagi, …
AI assistants in virtual meetings are recording and transcribing private discussions and jokes, sometimes with embarrassing results for users. These tools can automatically distribute summaries of entire calls, including informal small talk, to all participants. As reported by Ann-Marie Alcántara in the Wall Street Journal, this raises new concerns about privacy and context in the …